Analysis of the Characteristics of Adaptive Systems

A method was developed to produce a set of consistent and independent characteristics of adaptive systems. Previous work identified human performance risks and benefits of adaptive systems through a systematic analysis of 25 characteristics. A potential limitation of the original analysis was the reliance on 25 characteristics that were potentially inconsistent. It could be that some characteristics were redundant, thereby giving more weight to the riskier characteristics, and increasing the average risk rating. A method was developed to evaluate each of the characteristics from a usability perspective. The results were then used to generate a Pearson´s rank correlation of each pair wise combination of characteristics. The utility of the method was triage for identifying those pair wise comparisons needing further human factors analysis without having to consider each combination. A final set of seven consistent and independent characteristics were defined.